Editorial

Jeanne Rooney2018-11-27T16:34:17+00:00August 10th, 2018|Categories: Editorial|Comments Off on Colin Brought People Together

Letter to the Editor: By Ray Flynn, former Mayor of Boston and U.S.Ambassador to the Vatican After stopping by St.Augustine’s Chapel and Cemetery in South Boston yesterday to say a prayer and take a look at how the renovation were going, one of the construction workers said, “ The Church is making a lot of improvements here, it’s going to look great when it is finished for the 200 th Anniversary in September”. It seems like the community is really behind this effort. We were soon joined by a gentleman from Springfield, who drove all the way down to South Boston to visit the historic cemetery. He said he had heard a lot of important stories about the oldest Catholic Church and Cemetery in Massachusetts [...]

NIH Graphic By Richard Campbell It was covering the splendid athletic prowess of the Boston Triathlon athletes this past week that made this writer ponder physical education. The nation is experiencing an obesity epidemic that is well recorded by the National Center for Disease Control. In children ages 2-19 the obesity rate has hit an all-time high of 18.5 %, with the spectacular 20.6% for students between the ages of 12-19 years. The current adult obesity rate of around 35% indicates a not particularly rosy future, as the obesity rate of children growing up in the 1970’s was only 4%. These national statistics mean that particularly for adults and high school students, we have big problems. Some blame fast food, lackadaisical parenting, poor [...]

Jeanne Rooney2018-04-04T15:43:53+00:00April 4th, 2018|Categories: Editorial|Comments Off on Parking for the Public Good

The growth of real estate development along the main thoroughfare of South Boston has been enormous in the past ten years. We at South Boston Online have noticed all the new restaurants, boutiques, and dense new residential housing that has been added along Broadway, and simultaneously-the addition of more cars. In a crisis of unending tickets and triple parking, local businesses struggle to keep patrons coming simply because finding parking is such a hassle. The developers have been very busy in South Boston, and the time for public parking garages is long overdue. Imagine a future when you go shopping in South Boston and simply park your car in a garage near your shopping destination, or driving down Broadway without dogging parked cars. For this [...]

By Mayor Martin J. Walsh It was a scene similar to one Boston’s seen before. This past weekend, on a cold Saturday morning, tens of thousands of people gathered to kick off another march demanding national change. Except this time, we gathered at Madison Park Vocational High School in Roxbury, ready to start our route to the Boston Common. And this march was even more remarkable, because it had been created and organized by our students. In fact, all throughout our nation, our young people are leading the charge and fighting for stricter gun control laws. At Boston’s March for Our Lives, the organization, the message, the passion -- it started with our students, and our young people. It’s hard to believe it’s been just [...]

Jeanne Rooney2018-03-21T18:24:05+00:00March 21st, 2018|Categories: Editorial|Comments Off on The South Boston Allied War Veterans Council

It is worthwhile repeating a few facts and figures about last Sunday’s 2018 St. Patrick’s/ Evacuation Day Parade. An estimated 125 marching units participated in this year’s Parade. On Monday, we read in Boston’s daily newspapers that maybe as many as a million spectators attended the Parade, despite the uncomfortably cold weather. That makes out Parade the largest in New England and the third largest in the country, Frankly, South Boston Online doubts that a million spectators showed up. However, based on previous years, half of that number, or 500,000, would not be unusual. To put that number in perspective, please consider that 500,000 people would fill 25 TD Bank Gardens for the Celts and Bruins, 12 Fenway Parks for the Red Sox, or 7 [...]

North-South Link Tunnel: It’s About Time Recent studies on the feasibility of an underground tunnel to connect North and South Stations prompted by Congressman Seth Moulton, and completed by students of the Harvard Kennedy School. suggests that the cost may be lower than originally believed. The report: Connecting the Northeast: A Cost Estimate for the North South Rail Link, was completed in August 2017. While anyone in their right mind considering Boston’s over priced major construction projects would be justified in questioning whether Boston can actually complete a transportation construction project without fleecing the tax payers- especially when the MBTA is involved- the report deserves to be considered. The North-South Link is estimated in the report of costing 5.9 billion dollars in 2025 dollars, and [...]

Opioids are powerful “hard” drugs. They include heroin, oxycodone/oxycontin, and fentanyl, all of which can lead to overdoses, especially when they are bought illegally on the streets. And you don’t have to be told that many of these overdoses can be fatal. Opioid-related overdose deaths in Massachusetts peaked at an incredible level of 2,155 two years ago in 2016. And the actual total was probably higher because autopsies don’t always spot overdose deaths. That number here in Massachusetts was equivalent to about 100,000 nationwide, far more than deaths in auto accidents. Opioid overdose deaths fell by approximately 10% in Massachusetts during 2017. That’s some progress of course, but overdose deaths were 560 in 2010. Deaths have more than tripled since then.. The major reason for [...]

The fledgling farmer’s market on West Broadway is a very nice start, but let’s face reality: it is time to grow and change. Before the start of spring, South Bostonians should mobilize to support the second stage of a South Boston Farmer’s Market, in preparation for a new future. When we consider the number of viable future locations in South Boston, with all the projects proposed in real estate and development, the choice initially looks too complex to make a simple healthy move. But why should we move the market to prepare for a better future? The big reasons for advocating this new beginning for a larger farmer’s market in a different location are pretty clear. First: the current market is too small to [...]

Jeanne Rooney2018-02-14T15:33:21+00:00February 14th, 2018|Categories: Editorial|Comments Off on Big Pharma at the Trough of Advertising

By Richard Campbell One of the mysteries of the current day health care scene is the role of advertising in big pharma. By some estimates Americans spend over 300 billion dollars a year on prescription drugs. It’s big business. It was pointed out by Ana Swanson of the Washington Post, that the research firm Global Data did a study that showed in 2013, 9 out of 10 of the biggest pharmaceutical companies spent more on advertising than on research. If this is true, the level of corporate hucksterism has reached an all-time high in that industry. In the late nineties when restrictions were lifted on advertising prescription drugs, the flood gates were opened. We see the results today. One might ask what these often embarrassing, [...]

Jeanne Rooney2018-02-01T13:17:22+00:00February 1st, 2018|Categories: Editorial|Comments Off on The State of Water: Getting Better

Water is by far the most valuable resource needed to sustain life. You can live without natural gas, oil, even electricity; but you won’t last long without fresh water. From this perspective it is they pretty surprising how much we take drinking water for granted- as we do clean water in the Boston Harbor. While water departments in many other states and cities (ie Detroit, Michigan), have hit the news with scandals, even our biggest disasters seem small by comparison. Behind the scenes one of the very best dimes ever spent by Massachusetts residents is the tax dollars that go to support the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority and The Massachusetts Clean Water Trust. Perhaps the most recent sewer accident early this month in Nantucket, [...]

MISSION of South Boston Online

South Boston Online is a community newspaper that reports weekly in print and online throughout the year on events that occur in South Boston, Massachusetts, the Boston Seaport and the city of Boston. From its inception in 1999 our goal has been to inform our readers in a manner that serves the South Boston community interests in a wide variety of endeavors.

While we routinely cover issues that impact our state and the nation, the primary focus is upon South Boston community events in our businesses, churches, city governance, educational resources, and local entertainments. South Boston Online is a privately owned, completely independent newspaper with a small dedicated staff who take pride in keeping the neighborhood informed and entertained.

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This Sliding Bar can be switched on or off in theme options, and can take any widget you throw at it or even fill it with your custom HTML Code. Its perfect for grabbing the attention of your viewers. Choose between 1, 2, 3 or 4 columns, set the background color, widget divider color, activate transparency, a top border or fully disable it on desktop and mobile.